British Olympic Association Urges Calm Over Snowsport GB Difficulties

By Sport Desk; published on January 21, 2010 at 2:16 pm

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Reports that the national governing body for Winter sports in the UK is about to go into administration have prompted the British Olympic Association to reassure athletes.

Snowsport GB is the official governing body of snowboarding and other Winter sports in the UK and membership is compulsory for those athletes competing in the Olympics. The body has been undergoing financial difficulties and needs around £200,000 before the end of the month to continue operating.

The British Olympic Association responded with reassurance, saying that there would be a national body to represent the athletes to the Olympics – even if one has to be created overnight to satisfy Olympic rules.

BOA Chief Executive Andy Hunt said:

We are fully aware of the situation and have been briefed on the steps being taken by Snowsport GB to remedy the financial shortfall.

The BOA’s absolute priority is to do everything possible to ensure that the athletes are able to compete in the Vancouver Games as members of Team GB.  We have developed a contingency plan and, should it become necessary to do so, will submit it to our Board for consideration.

We are in communication with the relevant team leaders and officials to reassure them that we are monitoring the situation closely and are doing everything we can to support them.

The changes in structure are hardly great preparation for the athletes, with medal hopefuls due to attend a kitting-out ceremony hosted by Adidas tomorrow.

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Posted by Sport Desk on January 21, 2010. Filed under Sport,Winter Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

News Tags: Adidas, British Olympic Association, Snowsport GB, Winter Sports.

About Sport Desk

Editors and staffers from the Sport Desk at The Global Herald.

Website: http://theglobalherald.com/section/sport/